 |  | Terrible ending for a great band. |  |
their last album, released in 2000 on columbia, is simply terrible. i know there are people that like it, but to me it sounds like a collection of b-sides from collective soul and better than ezra. crummy songwriting, their bassplayer leaving, & boring riffs = crappy album. coming after the career (and 90s) peak of 'adam and eve,' this sounds doubly worse. a sad swan song for one of the best bands of the 90s.
February 22, 2008I've listened to Catherine Wheel for years, and if nothing else, this was a constantly-evolving band (listen to the breadth of styles from the albums 'Ferment' to 'Happy Days' to 'Adam & Eve'). 'Wishville', their last release from 2000, sees them coming full-circle into well-crafted, earnest but rarely too-treacly rock pop. This album even sounds largely better, the songs breathe and come through, there's less noise (and when there is it's more controlled or better mixed: see "Gasoline"), and frontman Rob Dickinson sings with his trademark relaxed intensity (best evidenced on the great track "Mad Dog"). I really can't get over how sonically good this album sounds; 'Adam & Eve', while it had great material, was an annoyingly mixed and mushy album, and the band seems to have learned from that and redressed it here.
At 9 songs, the album may seem short, but the songs go so many places in some cases ("Ballad Of A Running Man"), that you might not notice. This album gets much flack, and as overtly pop as it sounds, it may stand as an inappropriate tombstone to a band that produced such angst-ridden songs as "I Confess" and "Black Metallic". But for some reason, I keep coming back to this album. It satisies my thirst for edginess, well-arranged songs, good recording, and replayability, and with reunions now being all the rage, I think a Catherine Wheel reformation is in order (as well as a reissue of their catalog with bonus tracks galore). These guys were good, and this is arguably the album where they were at the height of their creative powers.
July 5, 2007 | | Brilliant, Soulful And Intelligent Modern Rock | |
I'm perplexed by the lack of response to this amazing, very well-written, performed, and produced album, both from fans of Catherine Wheel and simply the music-buying public in general. It's criminal that a band that is this smart, sounds this great, and has such a compelling vocalist (Rob Dickinson's voice is just sublime) is either ignored or vilified by the mainstream. They deserved much more success.
The band's apparent swan song, "Wishville" is mature, intelligent, and features beautiful perfomances from all band memebers....I'm left wondering what Catherine Wheel's fans wanted, exactly, after reading so many poor reviews by fans....this holds up easily to anything in the band's back catalog, and has a level of production polish that sounds phenomenal. Does it really matter so much that they altered their name slightly? Really. If you enjoyed this, Rob Dickinson's solo album is also absolutely incredible.
April 22, 2007 | | judging without prejudice | |
This is just a fantastic album. It soars with beautiful songs, sung and played just right. Somewhat introverted compared to earlier releases but judging this on it's own merits, I can just say it is one of those albums that grabs me and never lets go. The balance is always there between melody, guitars, bass and drums and the result is draws you in like for instance the Grateful Dead could do with it's finer live performances.
March 6, 2007 | | (two and a half stars) Boring | |
Catherine Wheel inexplicably added "The" to its name, and the original bassist (Dave Hawes) left the band. I get the feeling that "Wishville" was completely dominated by Rob Dickinson, who I notice put out a solo album recently, which is not a good sign that CW is still around. Anyway, CW's last album "Wishville," (released five years ago!) provides no thrills. Let's face it - after "Ferment" and "Chrome" the band started on a precipitous slide, ending up on the bottom with the tepid "Wishville."
For my money, there are four decent songs on the album (each of which are blown away by almost all of "Ferment," and most of "Chrome") namely "Sparks Are Gonna Fly," "Gasoline," "Lifeline," and "Mad Dog." All of the rest are forgettable throw-aways. Hey Rob! This isn't a good way to end! Get the band back together, and write some music comparable to the old stuff!
October 2, 2005More reviews at Amazon.com ...
(53 reviews)